by David P. Greisman

Though Danny Garcia is citing a rib injury that led to his Feb. 9 fight with Zab Judah being postponed until April 27, DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley says Garcia had suffered a thumb injury in training camp.

Corley, a former junior welterweight titleholder who was working as a sparring partner to Garcia, spoke Sunday to TheKoncreteJungle.com.

“We were in there sparring all last week, and Danny threw a body shot, a right body shot towards me, and I used — I put my elbow down to block the body shot from getting hit with it,” Corley said. “He caught it on the thumb, on his right thumb, and he was having problems with it for the last whole week.

“So he was icing it and everything, and he had a therapy guy come in […] and then it swelled up as he continued to spar. So they went to the doctor, and the doctor said, ‘No, it’s not a good idea to do the fight,’ because it’s going to get worse if he throws the punch and Zab blocks the punch with his elbow.”

Garcia, meanwhile, confirmed to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com on Sunday that he got hurt during sparring with Corley on Jan. 19, but said the injury was to a rib on his left side.

“I didn’t even really feel it until we were done,” Garcia told Rafael. “But then I felt pain in my side, and then when I was cooling down I couldn’t raise my hands over my head. I had a real sharp pain and I couldn’t really breathe. I went to the doctor and had an X-ray, and the doctor said I have a bruised rib, a wall contusion.”

He described the pain while he breathed hard as “like I was being stabbed.”

“I talked to my manager [Al Haymon] and said, ‘Give me until Saturday, and if I can spar, I’ll do the fight,’ ” Garcia told Rafael. “But I wasn’t mobile enough. It was tender and hurting, and I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to go into a big fight with a bad rib. There’s a lot to lose. So it’s best to listen to the doctor.”

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter @fightingwords2 or send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com